Suspect charged with attempted murder in LAPD station attack
A suspect accused of attacking two Los Angeles police officers inside a police station — pistol-whipping one with his own gun and open firing on another — has been charged with attempted murder, prosecutors said.
Jose Cerpa Guzman, 29, of Los Angeles, was charged Tuesday with two counts of attempted murder and related charges in the brazen late Saturday assault inside the Harbor Community police station in San Pedro, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said.
Prosecutors said Guzman entered the police station and got into an argument with an officer just before 10 p.m. He left but came back and allegedly started attacking an officer.
Video of the onslaught obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows a suspect identified by cops as Guzman knocking the officer to the floor before grabbing his gun and striking him at least four times in the head with the weapon.
Police sources told the newspaper Guzman then tried to shoot the officer — repeatedly squeezing the firearm’s trigger — while pointing the weapon at his chest, but a safety mechanism stopped it from going off.
Guzman then ran out of the station and exchanged gunfire with a watch commander. No one was hurt in the shooting, while the officer who was pistol-whipped had “bumps and bruises” in what LAPD Chief Michel Moore has called a “brutal and immediate assault” that he was lucky to survive.
Moore said Tuesday investigators were still going over all facets of the case, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Why this officer was not shot by this assailant is unclear, but I’m grateful,” Moore said.
Guzman was taken into custody a short time later, Lacey said. Prosecutors recommended his bail be set at $2.2 million and he faces up to life in state prison if convicted.
A motive in the attack remains unclear and investigators are still looking into how Guzman was able to get into the police station’s front lobby, CBS Los Angeles reported.
It’s unclear if Guzman had hired an attorney ahead of his scheduled arraignment Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Robert Harris, director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said the harrowing attack is an example of the extreme dangers cop face every day.
“I know there are people in society that say, ‘This is what you signed up for,’” Harris told NBC Los Angeles. “No, this is not what we signed up for. We are a reflection of the communities we serve — [an] attack on us is an attack on the community.”
With Post wires